Ocean Grove Football and Netball Club (OGFNC) will host an afternoon of cultural awareness training for the junior coaches who volunteer at the following local clubs – Ocean Grove Cricket, Collendina Cricket, Ocean Grove Soccer and Ocean Grove Cobras Junior Football. In all, the five clubs’ field 126 teams annually plus non-competitive Auskick Football and Blasters Cricket programs for 5-8 year olds.

The cultural training session is designed to provide the coaches with better insights into working with young people, particularly those from minority/disadvantaged groups, to develop their sporting skills, but more importantly, to ensure that they and their families feel welcome and included in their clubs’ activities and environment.

The coaches are all volunteers who provide skills training, encouragement and support to many of Ocean Grove’s young people. In a town of 18,000 people, their contact with over 2,000 young people is considerable. They are often viewed as significant role models for their players. The training will include panelists who will provide an insight into young people who are First Nations, from culturally diverse backgrounds, identify as LGBTIQA+ or belong to Rainbow families, and/or are neuro-divergent.

There will also be two speakers to talk about women and girls, their status in sporting clubs and preventing violence against women. The inclusion of a speaker to discuss autism and neuro-divergence is in direct response to several junior football coaches expressing their desire to interact more positively with the young people that they coach who present challenging behaviours.

By improving the skills of the volunteer coaches who work with young people across netball, football, cricket and soccer, we believe that the clubs will lead the wider community of Ocean Grove in being more tolerant, inclusive and accepting of all who live in Ocean Grove.